Twitter; Twettle

By Mike Street

I thought i'd let you know about this tweeting kettle...or Twettle (seeing as it is on the title..). I really want one. But everyone else I've mentioned it to, doesn't see the point. It is a Kettle that tweets when it has boiled. That is amazing!

Its just fantastic. A twittering kettle. How can you not see the appeal? It outputs at the end of each week how much energy its used and how many times it was boiled. I want one. I want one. I want one. I love tea and I now love Twitter. Mash up the two and you have my next birthday present (its in August if you're feeling generous).

I was just reading the article about this tweeting kitchen appliance and noticed this little bit that was buried away:

You could even make it boil remotely

What..Wait? You're saying in the morning I can fill up my Twettle with water and when I want that mid-morning cup of Tea, I can just tweet to Tweettle and it will Twoil? (OK that didn't really work..twitter/boil combo = no!)

The more oxygen that is dissolved in water, the better it tastes. So, to make sure you use water with the maximum amount of oxygen, don’t re-boil any leftover water in your kettle. Water that is boiled too much becomes poorly aerated because oxygen atoms escape in the form of steam. By always filling your kettle up afresh, you are ensured fully aerated and tasty water.

So you'd just have to refill it whenever you've made your tea. Better than keep getting up!

Just as you keep on reading the article, the idea behind it gets better and better!

was also very keen to have some sort of open API for the Twettle so that developers could have fun making mobile and web applications around it. Imagine web apps that could show what parts of the country were making the most tea or how much electricity is being used (or saved) by making tea with the Twettle.

Just...amazing. It will have Facebook connect and such as well...

One downside. They estimate about £75 if they do a massive bulk order, or £180 if not. Bit steep. I might wait until its everywhere until I get one - then it will be cheaper. Although I want to be an early adopter. Might need to stop being a student...

We had to honestly ask ourselves how much people would be willing to pay for the Twettle, £75 seemed like a good price. Keeps it within the novelty gift zone and can be afforded by Twitter lovers. But once we worked out the quantity we would need to order to get the price down to £75 per unit, we were short of around half a million pounds.
Our other option was to order less units but bump the retail price up, this would make each unit £180 which is a bit of a risk because who spends that much on a new kettle when they’ve already got one?

There is also this Tweeting Cuckoo clock. This is a clock that tweets whenever there is a predetermined phrase or word found in Twitter search. For example; you could have it set up to cuckoo whenever it finds your twitter name. This could be cool, or it could be really annoying. What if someone RT or replies to you in the middle of the night? Bah!

Still, the fact that it can wirelessly access the Twitter API and cuckoo, means, once more there is a while little alleyway of opportunities and inventions. We'll wait and see...